A link rich Introduction to Neolithic Megalith Transport from Cáceres Puro et al. (2025)

 A link rich Introduction to Neolithic Megalith Transport from Cáceres Puro et al. (2025):

"Most of the stones used in prehistoric megalithic constructions were transported by land through a diversity of technical procedures (see discussion in Garfitt, 1979; Hoskin, 1986; Van Tilburg, 1995; Kalb, 1996; Adams, 2007; Harris, 2018; etc.). For a long time, however, there have been suggestions that, in some specific cases, stones were transported by water ways, either along rivers or marine coasts.

Transport of megaliths by water is well attested among the prehistoric societies of Micronesia (Hazell and Fitzpatrick, 2006) and, of course, in ancient Egypt (Landström, 1970). Although little is known about navigation and sailing technology in Neolithic Europe (Morgado et al., 2018; Gibaja et al., 2024; Morgado-Rodríguez et al., 2025), water transport was probably restricted to stones of a limited size. It is unlikely that massive stones weighting several tens of tons were transported by boat. At any rate, there are very few cases for which water transportation of megaliths has been postulated. Probably, the best-known case is that of Stonehenge (Wiltshire, UK), where the ‘bluestones’ have been interpreted to have been carried over a distance of 210 km from their geological place of origin in the Preseli mountains (Wales) to the building site (Parker Pearson, 2012; Parker Pearson et al., 2015) and the “Altar Stone”, whose provenance could be in Scotland, some 700 km north of the monument (Clarke et al., 2024; Bevins et al., 2024). Both coastal and river routes have been hypothesised for the ‘bluestones’ (Parker Pearson, 2012; Clarke et al., 2024), which are relatively small, weighting between two and five tons each, and therefore would not have posed an unsurmountable challenge for boat transportation to Late Neolithic communities. A water route has also been postulated for the kerbstones of Newgrange (Ireland), which, weighting around three tons each, were quarried at Cloger Head and transported strapped underneath boats along the coast and up the River Boyne (Stout and Stout, 2008). Seafaring transportation of megalithic stones over distances of up to 40 km have also been suggested for some of the Neolithic monuments of the Locmariaquer region, in French Brittany (Cassen et al., 2019)."

Site	Stone Type	Weight (tons)	Distance (km)	Proposed Transport Route	Source
Stonehenge, UK	Bluestones	2–5	210	Coastal and river routes (e.g., River Avon)	Parker Pearson (2012)
Stonehenge, UK	Altar Stone	~6	700	Coastal and river routes	Bevins et al. (2024)
Newgrange, Ireland	Kerbstones	~3	Unknown	Coastal and River Boyne	Stout and Stout (2008)
Locmariaquer, France	Various	Unknown	Up to 40	Seafaring along Brittany coast	Cassen et al. (2019)
Valencina, Spain	Matarrubilla Basin	Unknown	8.5 - 15	Potential river/coastal routes	Cáceres Puro et al. (2025)

Reference:

Luis M. Cáceres Puro, Teodosio Donaire Romero, José Antonio Lozano Rodríguez, Marta Díaz-Guardamino, Francisco Martínez-Sevilla, Alicia Medialdea, Miren del Val, Jonàs Alcaina-Mateos, Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal, Fernando Muñiz Guinea, Juan Manuel Vargas Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Rogerio-Candelera, Leonardo García Sanjuán,
Seafaring megaliths: A geoarchaeological approach to the Matarrubilla giant stone basin at Valencina (Spain),
Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 180, 2025, 106263,
ISSN 0305-4403, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106263.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440325001128)